Silver Striped Hats and Blood Soaked Gloves
by Lune-Solei
Summary: Tempers rise and Jeremie finally confronts Odd about his relationship with Aelita after a Xana attack. JA, OA-friendship. Rated for boy!violence and blood.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Code Lyoko.

**Pairing:** JxA

**Warnings:** Blood, violence.

**Author's Note:** This takes place after Pink Clouds and Bright Yellow Shoes. It's set during my C'est La Vie arch, which is currently being posted (slowly) on my lj which is linked as my homepage. Check it out if you want. But once I get the enough chapters I'll start posting them here, however the lj ones will have extras. Anyway, hope you enjoy this!

**Dedication:** To Emu, I am not squishy.

* * *

"Odd."

Her voice is soft and he doesn't look up, eyes focused on the sky above. Grey clouds are scudding in across the indigo expanse, threatening snowfall he's sure. He hears the crunch of ice under her boots as she crosses from the door to where he lays on his bench.

"Odd," she tries again. She crouches down next to him, brown and silver knit cap pulled down over pink eyebrows. "Odd." She reaches out and her pink gloved fingers touch his shoulder lightly. "Odd, it's _not_ your fault."

It is though and they both know it. Everyone knows it actually by now. Especially if Milly and Tamiya posted it in the Kadic Herald's evening issue…Do they even have an evening issue? He sighs, eyes closed and fingers clenched. She rests her head against his shoulder and he flinches from the touch almost immediately.

"Odd…please," she whispers.

"Princess, stop, don't." He turns his head to the wall and heaves a breath of relief as she sits back. "Jeremie won't appreciate it."

"Damn it Odd!" she shrieks. A couple of pigeons that had taken residence on the opposite side of the roof take flight hurriedly. He sits up and looks at her as she tugs at her cap and pulls on her grey sweatshirt. The one Jeremie got her two weeks ago, with the pink hearts up the arms. He closed his eyes. "I don't _care_ what Jeremie thinks," she hisses at him. "We did what we had to do."

"We practically just broke his heart! We just alerted the _entire_ student body to the fact that we, in fact, _kissed_ even though we're _cousins_ Aelita!" He sits up and hurls a stone across the tarred roof and a lingering pigeon coos and takes flight. He grips her shoulders and she feels the cold seep through the cloth from his hands. It's now she realizes he's not wearing gloves.

"We had to Odd, we _had to_," she whispers, eyes wide. "Jeremie understands that Odd. He understands we had to do that, the diversion…Xana. It wasn't our fault."

"Tell that to Kadic," he growls, gesturing out to the campus below. "I'm sure they're having a field day. I'm _positive_ they are actually. No one knows or cares about Xana, they just know that they saw the two of us kissing so as to allow Yumi and Ulrich time to get to the factory before us."

"Will you stop only thinking about yourself for once? You want to know what we'll tell them then? We'll tell them it was a joke, a prank. A trick of some sort. Come _on_ Odd, the more you sulk, the more they'll gossip. You should know this." She pulls off her hat and balls it up in her fists angrily. "Grow up Odd," she half snarls.

Turning on the heel of her brown boots (the ones he helped her color silver stars on two nights ago) she stomps across the rooftop, pink hair blowing in the wind. The sky is completely grey now and he heaves a sigh, standing up as well as the door opens and Ulrich's there, looking at them with slightly wide eyes.

"Should I go?"

"Don't bother," she growls. "You deal with the temperamental little _fool_!" She shoves past him and the door shuts with a bang.

"You sure know how to piss her off, don't you?" Ulrich questions lightly. He walks over and leans against the low wall, staring out at the tree tops. "It's not that bad."

"It is," Odd laughs. "She's right, we can explain it away so easily and I'm sulking like a child." He turns and leans next to Ulrich. "I am a fool."

"Mm, yes. Here." The blonde looks down to see the purple gloves being handed to him. "You left them in the dorm; figured you'd want them." Odd nods, accepting them gratefully and pulling them on. "So, what are you going to do then?"

"Face up to it I assume." He hesitates, following Ulrich's gaze. "Shouldn't your vertigo be kicking in about now?" Ulrich nudged him and Odd laughed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Sorry," he murmured. He pulled back and stuffed his slightly warmer hands back into his pockets. "I guess I'd better face the music, huh?"

"That'd probably be best. I, on the other hand, am going to return to the warmth of the dorm, let me know how it goes."

"Of course."

They exit the roof together, heading down the back stairwells until Ulrich breaks off to head back to the dorm. Odd continues down, exiting as the first flakes drift to the ground. He hides a cold, bitter smile with the duck of his head as he heads toward the cafeteria. There's a sudden shadow stretched in front of him and he stops, looking up.

"Odd." He swallows, staring at Jeremie standing in front of him. Staring at Yumi and Aelita slightly behind him. Aelita's eyes are wide, Yumi's narrowed.

"Hey Einstein, what's up?" he tries brightly. He doesn't see the move until the punch lands squarely on his jaw and he takes a couple of steps back in surprise. "Okay," he says, rubbing the sore spot gingerly, "I think I deserved that. But it's not what you think and you _know_ it."

"Shut-up for _once_ in your life Odd, will you?" Jeremie demands. His face is flushed and he's rubbing his knuckles absently. "You _know_ I like Aelita and yet you just don't _stop_ do you? You're always flirting with her and touching her and just _doing_ stuff with her!" he growls. He takes a step forward and Odd takes an automatic one back.

"Look, Einstein, really it was a _joke_. And you know I flirt with everyone. I flirt with Ulrich and Hertz for God's sake!" he yells. A few students passing by stop to stare and her glares. "A joke, a prank. I wouldn't take Aelita from you, I don't even like her like that, cousin or not. She's not my type, ask her!" 

He ducks a punch and returns one, catching Jeremie in the shoulder. "I don't want to fight, I'm a pacifist!"

"Sure you are Odd. Sure you are. That's why you're always in detention is it?" He swung again and caught Odd in the cheek with his left fist and Odd glared at him.

"Stop it!" Aelita screamed. "Just stop it, both of you! This is ridiculous!"

"You want to know _why_ I spend so much time with Aelita, Jeremie?" Odd growled. He threw himself at the younger boy and they fell in a tangle of limbs to the hard ground that the snow hadn't managed to cover yet. "Because she's fun and makes me laugh, and we can just talk. She doesn't have to feel like some modern marvel of goddamn science when she's around me instead of you!"

"Odd!" Aelita gasped though no one but Yumi heard her.

"She can be herself and _try_ things and not be afraid that you'll think she's _corrupted_ or something. Like a virus or program on one of your computers!" He hit Jeremie in the abdomen and felt knuckles connect with his mouth. He never did like the taste of blood. "She doesn't have to talk in binary speech; she can just talk freely and happily!"

"Shut-up Odd," Jeremie growled. "His glasses had been knocked off and he had a bloody nose. "You don't know what you're talking about. I would never treat Aelita like she was some computer program. I would never do anything to make her upset. I…I love her!"

The courtyard was silent except for the swish of wind and the pants of the two boys sprawled on the hard stone. Suddenly a ragged sob ripped through the quiet and Aelita turned, burying her face in Yumi's shoulder as the older girl held her, glaring at the two blondes.

"About time you admitted it," Odd grumbled. He stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Then, with a bright grin, he reached a hand down to the other blonde. "All right there Einstein?"

"Uh…uh yeah," Jeremie replied. He smiled, taking the offered hand as he was pulled to his feet. He looked dazed as Yumi handed him his glasses and Aelita offered him a faint smile. "I can't believe…"

"Hey! Hey you all!" They looked up to see Jim bulldozing his way toward them. He had a tissue crumpled up and pressed to his nose because of his cold. "What's going on here? Belpois, Della Robbia, you two been in a fight recently then?"

"What?" Jeremie squeaked. His eyes widened behind the glasses almost comically.

"No, of course not Jim," Odd grinned. He seemed to have forgotten his blood stained teeth. "We slipped on the snow and collided with these lovely cobblestones here, see?" He pointed to the blood coated snow. "Terrible, isn't it?"

"Uh…" Jim moaned.

"Gee Jim," Aelita piped up, staring at him. "You look a bit pale; maybe that cold's getting worse? You should go see the nurse about it."

"Right…right Miss Stones. You two…no more slipping." He turned and shuffled away and Odd grinned widely.

"Right then. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone, Yumi, see you tomorrow!" He pulled Aelita to him and pressed a dry kiss to her temple. "I'm sorry…but I did fix it," he whispered into her hair. He ruffled it on his way to the dorms and she laughed after him.

Turning at the door he saw her standing with Jeremie, Yumi having disappeared in the crowd of departing students, and smiling at him. He grinned when Jeremie touched her cheek before dashing inside and up the stairs to his own room. He burst in, grinning still, and did a pirouette before collapsing onto his bed, the door swinging shut behind him.

Ulrich glanced up from where he'd been browsing a magazine. He raised an eyebrow at his roommate as he looked him over. "Do I even want to know why your face is swollen twice its usual enormous size and covered in blood?"

Odd squinted at him through his black eye and tossed a pillow at his head. "My head is not enormous. And anyway, I had a fight with Einstein and it was amazing."

"Right," Ulrich muttered. He raised the magazine back up and glanced away muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "maniac."

"It was. He loves Aelita and doesn't want to kill me anymore and today was marvelously magnificent." He leaned back, grinning up at the ceiling and tossing his blood soaked gloves to the floor. "Brilliant day, but I think I need new gloves."


End file.
